Looking out the viewport of his
quarters, Capt. William Albertar wondered if he would ever see his home planet
again. His space battleship, the Argon had journeyed over halfway to Earth’s
Moon since it’s take-off a couple of hours ago. Albertar remembered from his
Earth History that in 1969 it took over 3 days to reach the Moon, but this was
the year 2199 and spacecraft were capable of velocities that 20th Century man
could not achieve. Even now the Argon was hardly moving at a fraction of her
full speed – and then there was the Space Warp…a totally different kind of
propulsion, and they would be attempting one for the very first time, in a short
while.

He turned his attention back to the Earth that would shortly be
lost from his view. The lush blue/green planet that early astronauts beheld in
their space travels was no more. Now, in its place, a hideous mockery floated in
space as Sol’s Third Planet. Covered by thick clouds of radioactive fallout, one
could occasionally see the scorched earth beneath, a dull reddish-brown or the
poisoned seas, what was left of them, grayish in color and lifeless. Suddenly, a
flash of red caught his eye, and streaked Earthward as he gazed helplessly on.

“There goes another Planet Bomb,” he said aloud to himself.

Moving much faster than his ship, the object hurried towards the Earth
and vanished into the thick clouds at a point somewhere close to Australia, then
momentarily there was a dull red glow under the clouds as the bomb hit it’s
target.

“It was of little consequence,” the Captain thought. No people
would be on the surface there anyway because all the remainder of the human race
had been hiding down in underground cities for years and years. No one but
authorized personnel were even allowed on the surface for fear of the deadly
levels of radiation there.

Mankind had survived underground – but what
kind of life was it? Never seeing the sun, feeling it’s warmth or experiencing
the wind and the rain. No one under 15 years old could say they have experienced
any of those things in real life…but Albertar remembered. He remembered
wonderful, sunny days walking in the woods with all his woodland animal
friends…he remembered storm and rain and wind. And he remembered things he would
rather forget.

Now any living animals were all in zoos and preserves, all
underground in hopes that some might not fall into extinction – if the world
ever returned to normal, that is. Without the sun, without the natural
environment they needed - many were dying even under the strictest care. Many of
the creatures that once roamed the planet will never do so again. Thanks to
them…

Albertar pushed a button and the viewport closed, hiding the sickly
planet they were leaving. To save it they couldn’t look back but only forward,
forward to the hope that was offered to them and that was where they were
headed. It would be time for the Space Warp soon, but first there was the matter
of a staff meeting with all the crew leaders. He left his quarters and headed to
the Central Planning Office.

Terry Wyldstar sat alone in the large,
empty room watching the large screen of the televiewer that covered most of one
wall. The ship was on auto-pilot until time for the Warp so he took the
advantage of the time to watch some Earth programming – it wouldn’t be long
before they would be too far away to pick up the broadcasts. However, he was
lost in thought and not paying much attention to what was on the screen. Terry
was an officer, a weapons expert and pilot in the Earth Defense Force. When the
planet bombing began, petty wars and conflict between countries soon ceased and
a global military was organized, that was the EDF and almost every young man and
woman wanted to serve.

“How did he wind up here?” he thought, but he
figured he knew the answer, and it had something to do with an incident that
happened about 3 months ago, in which he was personally involved…

He and
Anthony Venture, a fellow officer had been on duty at a Mars outpost when the
“Outworlder” had crash-landed not far from their outpost and they were assigned
to investigate.

The Outworlder was the code-name given to a spacecraft,
a robot craft from an unknown intelligence that contained a special object. They
had recovered the object, unharmed from the impact and turned it over to their
superiors. That was the last they had heard of it too, but Terry felt it was
some kind of warning, or a message – a message from the stars.

Then two
weeks ago they both received new orders and were assigned to this post along
with hundreds of other officers and cadets, all under Captain William Albertar.

“Albertar”, Terry thought disgustedly. “The last commander in space that
I would want to serve under!” Looking around members of the Argon’s crew were
already filing into the Central Planning Office, including the Captain.

Chapter
One

Captain Albertar looked around the Central
Planning Office at the young fresh faces of the leaders of the Earth Force and
collected his thoughts in preparation for the meeting. He was fairly young for
the rank of Senior Captain, just in his early thirties, making him one of the
youngest captains of the EDF. However, Albertar had more victories under his
belt that many of his seniors.

Being in command of such a young crew was
new to him, as many senior space cadets had been killed by the Leagammalons that
the rookie cadets were all that were available for this year long journey. But
this group would be seasoned after this crucial and important mission he
thought. Most of the group leaders in the room had no real idea why they were
here and that’s why the meeting was taking place, so he could inform them of the
dangerous and arduous mission that they had been chosen for. Everyone was now
seated at the large oval conference table ready for the briefing that would
explain their mission.

Terry Wyldstar a newly graduated cadet, had been
hand selected by Albertar and would serve as Combat Group Leader (gunner) and
would also lead the Black Tiger pilots squadron. Wyldstar’s older brother Rex
had served under Albertar too. But he was killed in the battle of Pluto -- the
last battle where Albertar’s fleet had been defeated and beat a hasty retreat
from the Leagammalons.

Albertar already sensed Terry’s dislike of him,
no doubt he blamed him for his brother’s death. Capt. Albertar had ordered
Captain Rex Wyldstar’s ship to retreat, but acting like a hotshot space cowboy,
he refused orders and continued to fight allowing Captain Albertar and his crew
to escape death. Terry never knew the whole story and assumed that Albertar’s
poor leadership caused the incident and death of his brother. Albertar’s
selection of him was partially due to the thought (and rumor) that the more
youthful Wyldstar was much like his brother. Albertar had duel goals in mind for
Wyldstar, one to mentor him as a Deputy Captain and the other, he felt that once
Wyldstar recovered from Rex’s death he would certainly be a brave and courageous
combat leader that would encourage others.

Lt. Candy Nova Cain, another
new cadet, would have multiple duties as Lead Radar Operator, ship’s Nurse and
would Head up the Survey/Analysis and On-Ship Living Conditions Teams. Lt. Cain
had the reputation of always being ready and willing to get the job done. Her
cheerful attitude would be much needed on this long and hard
journey.

Anthony Venture was also a new cadet and fellow student of
Wyldstar’s, he would serve as Navigation Group Leader. Venture was also hand
selected by Albertar. Paired with his rival friend, the hotheaded Wyldstar;
Venture the calm, cool and collected-type would hopefully make the long journey
steadier for them all.

Steardor Corwell, an experienced Technical
Engineer and Physics whiz, would serve as Chief Technician and Leader of
Engineering Group. Steador was a great asset to the force and Albertar insisted
Earth Defense that he be assigned to this mission. Steador had gone to cadet
school with Wyldstar’s older brother Rex and knew him well. Albertar hoped
Steador might bond with Terry because of that relationship, but he wasn’t sure –
it was too soon to tell.

Now, Capt. Albertar began the briefing, “I know
you have all wondered why you were selected for this mission and most of you are
probably wondering what our mission is, and that’s why I scheduled this meeting.
This matter has been kept in strictest confidence, eventually the enemy will
know what we are doing, but we wanted as little information to leak out before
we departed. Now, I can tell you all exactly what our mission
is.”

“Humanity is in grave danger as you all know, it’s only a matter of
time before the Earth will be unable to sustain any life at all and we can only
go so far underground to escape the deadly radiation. Two of you in this very
office, recovered an alien device on the planet Mars. That device was code-named
the Outworlder, and its purpose has been top secret these months.”

The
televiewer flickered and came to life – it showed small cylindrical object,
smoothing out to rounded points on each end. The object spun in a 3-D display
showing all its sides. It was a pretty unremarkable-looking thing and Wyldstar
had thought so the first time he saw too. He sighed a bit under his breath.
“What next?“

The Capt. continued, “The Outworlder was discovered to be a
message capsule, and more amazingly, an offer to help us recover our planet. Lt.
Steardor would you play the message now?”

“Yes sir.” Steardor replied
pushing some buttons on the console in front of him. The Outworlder vanished
from the screen and a waveform display undulated on the screen as an alien voice
echoed in the room, speaking perfect Earther. Terry and Venture now were hearing
the voice recorded in that capsule they recovered months ago – a female voice.

“People of Earth, I am Queen Brightstar of the planet Izatso. We know of
your conflict with the Legammalons and offer you our assistance. On our planet
we a have a machine that is capable of negating the radioactivity that is
rapidly poisoning your planet Earth…”

The message continued as the voice
gave astral coordinates, technical information and also informed them that plans
for a new weapon and space propulsion drive were in the capsule whereupon the
message ended and Steardor added, “We took those plans and have incorporated
them into this starship. Our destination is the planet Izatso.”

There was
a concerted murmur of voices around the table. The Capt. held up his hand for
silence. “If any of you have any questions, go ahead.”

Terry was the
first to speak out. “How do we know this isn’t just a Legammalon trick and we
are going to fall right into it?”

Steardor answered, “Actually, we do not
know, but the fact the capsule contained the plans for the new technology to get
us to their planet does speak volumes. Our scientists have determined that these
new machines will work; and why should the enemy give us this kind of
advantage?”

Terry was silent, it was a good enough answer for him. There
were a few other questions, then one about the Space Warp. "That’s a good
question." Capt. Albertar said.

“A Space Warp is a speeded up form of space travel that
transports us light years ahead on our course in a moment of time. We will have
to warp quite frequently to make it to Izatso on schedule.” Steardor went into a
very technical explanation about the subject and ended on this note…”If all our
calculations are not absolutely correct we could end up many parsecs off course,
or worse, lost in the fourth dimension forever.”

“Oh, great!” Terry
thought one decimal point off and we disappear from the known Universe. He was
really beginning to loathe this post, this mission, everything around him. But
then again life on Earth was no bowl of cherries either. Maybe, just maybe this
could be Earth’s hope – at least it was it’s the only hope. He determined to
work on his attitude but it wouldn’t be easy. The briefing was almost at an end.

“Venture, based on Steardor’s deep space analysis do you think you can
you navigate us through the Warp?” Albertar inquired.

“Yes, sir!”

“Fine, we are set then. Our first Warp will be a short test and should
put us within a few thousand kilometers of Mars – from there we head straight to
Jupiter and beyond to Pluto.”

Suddenly a small figure leaped onto
Captain Albertar’s shoulder. Lt. Cain was sitting nearby and she gasped. Terry
looked up to see that it appeared to be small skunk. The animal sat on the
Captain’s shoulder looking around eagerly at the assembled crew members who had
begun to smile and point at him.

“It’s okay, this is JoJo. Jojo is a
robot, sort of a pet. But really much more. Jojo, how would you like to be the
official mascot of the Argon?” The little robot could speak, and it said quite
clearly in a pleasant voice. “I would certainly be honored, sir!”

“Excellent then. Jojo has been programmed with every iota of data
concerning this trip and this ship…he can provide input on how to do anything
concerning this mission so I know he will be useful. We also have a Model Q2000
robot aboard at our disposal. To succeed in our mission we will need every
person and every tool our technology can provide.”

Terry, looking at
Albertar just then, had a funny thought hit him…Albertar with JoJo on his
shoulder, hat down low on his head covering his eyes…reminded him of a centuries
old story and a dubious character – “What was his name? Long John…something. The
image of a pirate captain replete with a parrot perched on his shoulder - Long
John Silver! That was it.” He stifled a chuckle.

The Captain was almost
done with the briefing. He looked around the room and said, “I am counting on
all of you to be cooperative and ready for action. I would like to suggest that
you all spend some time getting to know each other, as its going to be a long
and hard year. This core group of leaders will be on call 24/7 and we will all
work as team players and have to depend on each other to back each other up in
times of need. You are dismissed.”

After the meeting Venture suggested
to Wyldstar that they have lunch before returning to the main bridge. On the way
Venture asked Wyldstar what he thought about Albertar’s robot pet skunk
JoJo.

“I don’t know, why don’t you try to pet it and see if it
bites.”

“It’s truly amazing, I think. Plus, he’s cute. Girls like cute
things. You know and I think me and Jojo are gonna be best buddies.” Venture
beamed.

“You would.” Terry said sarcastically.

Once in the lunch
room and with food trays in their hands, Venture scanned the room for his target
and said, “Hey, let’s go sit where the girls’ are. C’mon Wyldstar, be sociable
for once, its going to be a long journey for us bachelors!”

“No way
Romeo, you go on without me.” He sat down at the table nearest to him. Venture
continued on in the aforementioned direction.

Terry sat down and began
eating his lunch, thinking about the things that Albertar had said. While he
didn’t particularly like Captain Albertar, he knew he had to follow orders,
well, that is for the most part. He was right about one thing, that it was going
to be a long hard year.

After awhile his thoughts turned to the reasons
why girls didn’t seem to like his company like they did Venture’s. It’s not that
he didn’t like girls or want their attention, but when Anthony was around, he
knew he was just a leftover commodity. Anthony was a handsome young man, had a
very charming personality, and he just naturally knew what to say to the
opposite sex while Terry usually stumbled over his words like a bull in a china
closet. “Well, no matter I can’t be thinking about anything else right now but
my goal to defeat the Leagammalons.” As Terry thought about it some more, he
realized that his older brother Rex never had any girlfriends either, “Maybe the
Wyldstar men were meant to be alone.” Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by
Lt. Cain.

“Is anyone sitting here?” Lt. Cain asked while pointing at the
vacant seat across from him.

“Naw, go ahead.” He smiled
tightly.

“So when did you graduate from the cadet academy?” Lt. Cain
asked as she sat down.

“Just recently, and you?”

“The same, I have
never seen you before.”

“I keep to myself mostly. Besides that weapons
experts and navigators get most of their training on Mars – more room to blow
things up and fly around out there.”

“Really? Did you know about the
message capsule then, before the briefing?”

“I suppose you could say
that, it was Venture and me that recovered that thing when it crashed but we had
no idea really what it was.”

“Oh, I see.” Looking down at her plate, she
asked, “Is this new dish tasty?”

“It all tastes the same to me, just
looks different from day to day.”

She smiled and began eating her lunch.
“He has nice eyes, but he seems so distant from everyone.”

“She’s cute. I
wonder why she sat here instead of with the rest of the girls?” Terry
thought.

A tense Terry, continued eating while trying to think of what to
say to Lt. Cain. He glanced over at Anthony and saw him telling jokes and
clowning around while the group of girls surrounding him all laughed at his
antics. All the girls looked enamored with him already and this was only their
first day out. “That’s Venture alright, Mr. Popularity.” Terry thought.

Candy saw him looking over at where his friend Anthony was sitting and
wondered why he wasn’t sitting with him. “Anthony Venture sure had a way with
girls.” thought Candy uneasily.

“So do you think we will make it to
Izatso and back to Earth in time with the machine, Terry?”

“We have to
Lt. Cain.”

“My first name is Candy.”

“Candy?” He asked with his
fork in mid air with a bite of food, headed towards his mouth.

“Yes.
Candy is my first name, is there something wrong with that?”

“Well it’s
an antique-sounding name isn’t it?” Terry said, “All the girls on Earth have
names like Quasar, Comet, Astra…you know – and they called you Candy?” Terry
busted out laughing as the words left his mouth.

Lt. Cain’s face turned
red and she sputtered, “Well, if you must know, it’s a family tradition – all
the firstborn girls in our family have been named Candy since the early 20th
century, since my great, great, great, great, great grandmother Candice White
Adley Grandchester – so there!!” She got up and took her tray to sit at another
table.

He stood up bowing as she left, “So long then Queen Victoria!” He
mocked in a loud voice.

When he noticed people turned around to look at
him, including Venture, he quickly sat down.

Later when he walked onto
the main bridge he looked Candy’s way and she stuck her nose up in the air at
him. “Well, Venture can have her too!” he thought.

He took his seat next
to Venture at the command console and sighed. The Moon loomed ahead of them
nearly filling the large viewport. Terry thought of some silly stuff all
moon-related…about a cow, a man, and green cheese. All he saw was a dead, grey,
airless planetoid pock-marked by countless impacts with space debris. Here all
the romanticism and colorful anecdotes vanished… the Moon was pug-ugly and not
much else to say about it. He wouldn’t miss it. Venture broke his concentration.

“Boy, Wyldstar you are a regular Casanova…in reverse!” Venture quipped.
“I heard what you said to little Candy Cain…”

When Terry
entered the bridge he noticed a lot of worried faces – No Earthman had attempted
a Space Warp before, it was uncertain if it would work and everyone knew it.
Glancing at Venture he saw no fear, but rather a sort of eager look of
anticipation on his face. “ Like a guy sitting in his aircar waiting for his hot
date to come out.” Terry mused.

Maybe that was what made Venture such a
hit with the opposite sex…his confidence. He certainly seemed to have it now.
Terry also thought, “Maybe he’s too dumb to know the danger!”, but dismissed
that because he knew Anthony was highly intelligent and graduated tops in his
class with honors.

No, Venture had something Wyldstar lacked, a driving
force, a daring spirit, ambition. He thought about how long had it been since he
had really wanted anything, besides getting into the EDF. Terry Wyldstar wasn’t
afraid of the Space Warp either, but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe lack of interest
of living in general – he didn’t like the thought.